Wordless Wednesday - Happy Hannukah

Latkes

Josiah got to light the menorah

A Look Outside

Iris blooming in December

Wildflower

Peas in bloom

One pink pea bloom?

Nice green lettuce

No standing water on this pool cover!

The key? Height and tight!

Hope you enjoyed our little walk.

Joints and the Nervous System

After making our skeleton model, we learned about joints. We made this model. It looked like it was going to be pretty cool. Now, I'm not sure it was worth the effort.



Dysfunctional joints

 The pivot joint is suppose to show how the bones at the base of the skull work. Uh, this explains why my head spins off sometimes ( : o ).  Then, you have the ball and socket joint, as in hip, shoulder. If the pivot joint had too much movement, the ball and socket joint does not have enough. Our model only moves in two directions ( ; \ ). 

bum knee

And last, but not least, I have heard of people's knees going this direction, but it is very painful. The knee joint in our model goes forward, instead of back. Hannah pointed this out to me, and she was very disturbed by the "wrongness" of it all. Like mother, like daughter?
I believe a kinesthetic approach is better for demonstrating the movements of the joints, AND alot more fun! If you have this book, The Body Book by Donald M. Silver and Patricia J. Wynne, I recommend that you skip making this model and just let your students locate the joints on themselves and demonstrate what they can do.

Packing Party

Grab a shoe box and some wrapping paper and join us as we prepare gifts for Operation Christmas Child .

1.

Pick a box and some paper.

2.



Wrap your box

Or get Mom to help you.

3.

Fill your box with socks, pencils, paper, washclothes and soap,
candy and

TOYS!

4.

Add a note if you'd like.



5.

Label your box for a girl or boy, then add it to the stack.

6.

SMILE! You and your FCFE friends packed 80 boxes for OCC!

The story behind this event:
A member of our homeschool group organizes this every year. Last year when we met, the goal was 50 boxes, which we easily exceeded. This year it was 75. Because the interest has been so great, we had to hold it at Rockbridge Baptist Church instead of her home, this year. Throughout the year, people gather items that can be put into the boxes, so that on the day of our packing party, we can lay them out assembly line style. What fun we have!
Most of us bring a sack lunch and enjoy spending more time together, eating and talking. And the kids get some time to run around and play. Today was a beautiful day for that, too.

Hannah enjoying lunch with some of her friends.

Thanksgiving in Pictures

Family

food fresh from the kitchen

(with the exception of the turkey, which was done outside)

a walk in the woods

a nap

The Bronze Bow

We finished our first read-aloud of the year, The Bronze Bow recently. It is set during the time of the Roman Empire, in Palestine, from the perspective of an eighteen year old Galilean boy named Daniel. The only family he has is an aged grandmother and a sister, but he has left them to join a band of zealots in the hills. In this story, Daniel learns the meaning of true friendship, family loyalty, and the forgiveness and healing that Jesus brings. Oh, and I forgot to mention that this is during the time of Jesus. Does Daniel meet him? Read the book and find out for yourself.

No Bones About It

We've been making some paper models this year as we go through our science studies on the human body.
The 5 Senses
The eye
The ear
The tongue and taste buds
The Skin
They all have flaps that make them interesting. Sorry there are no pictures of all those. It would take up lots of space.
Today, we did the BONES! Fun! And I got pictures!
There is alot of cutting and taping/gluing involved. I helped cut some of Josiah's pieces to save time, but he does most of it himself. Hannah needs no help at all.
Hannah's reaction to all of this human body stuff is "Gross".
Josiah's boyish reaction is "Cool. Let's make it look spooky".

Whistle while you work

Josiah! Your eyes look just like your skeleton's

Is this Hannah's idea of a joke?

You may see these "characters" again as we will be adding things to our skeletons as we go along.